I’ve written many times here about Truth Tools and how to use them to keep ourselves in the Realm of Truth and far from the Pit of Illusion. But sometimes I find I need something more than Tools—I need weapons. Being one of the most critical and negative people who has ever been born upon the earth, I have spent years warring against my negative ways. Truth Tools have helped, but the war is far from over, and so I’ve been accumulating an arsenal of Word Weapons that are helping me win the war.
Weapons are used to defend and to attack. By the same token, words can hurt and harm or comfort and ease and not just other people. The words I say to myself either harm or help me. As I realized this, I also realized that my negative and criticalness is manifest by the way I have used words to attack and it doesn't hurt anyone but me. For example, one of the things I noticed is that after any kind of event, I have performed a postmortem critic of the event. Evaluating an event to learn from it and grow from it is fine if you keep your comments to yourself and keep it constructive. And on occasion if invited to do so it is instructive and helpful to pass on to the right people an evaluation that will help them to grow and learn. But that is not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about noticing every little detail that is not absolutely right or to my liking and then voicing that afterward. That’s not evaluating, that’s disparaging, murmuring, or being judgmental. And I am sorry to say I have done that and by so doing drive the Spirit right out of my life. It is a difficult habit to overcome, but I have also realized that just as words can be used destructively (to attack), they can be used constructively (to defend).
So when I am tempted to use critical words like a sword to strike out, I am learning to drop the sword and lift up my shield instead. The shield reflects the critical words and by peering over the shield, I then take note of all the good things about the event and dwell on those. Sometimes the temptation still comes to use my Word Shield to bash someone over the head, but I am learning how to hold my shield high so that it protects me and is never used to attack.
Life is a constant battle, but Words are amazing weapons that can help us or hinder us as we fight to live in the Realm of Truth.Noticing what Word Weapons we use and how we use them is an important step to take in order to fight out way out of the Pit of Illusion.
you are so amazing! it is so hard to imagine that you have trouble with negativity and criticalness. this just goes to show that nobody really knows what we struggle with. you are doing a fabulous job! thank you for your wonderful blog and continuing to fien tuen yourself to help others as well as yourself!
ReplyDeletelove, laura